How I prepare for the perfect study day

I know a lot of you are new to the studyblr community, which is absolutely exciting! It’s great to see so many new people joining and the community growing every day. When you first get started it’s hard to break of habits and remembering and learning how to make productive studying a daily habit can be a challenge. One of the easiest ways to form a habit is to make a positive association with the action.

This is why addictions to things like sugar, nicotine and fat are so easy to create. These types of chemicals form a positive rush in the brain that makes us feel good. Humans are motivated to maximize rewards and minimize consequences, so they’ll repeat behaviors that bring rewards. That means you must associate studying with a reward.

At first glance you may think that there is an automatic association with studying and rewards, however this reward can be delayed. Additionally, you have no control over that reward. While you may study hard and work hard a lot of your results are down to the performance on the day or the correct interpretation of a question. That leaves a lot of wriggle room for disappointment – as sad as that may be. What that means it that you need to provide yourself with a little reward system that will allow you to build a positive reward system surrounding your study.

Additionally, we need to minimize the exhaustion that studying brings. When you first start out your studying, begin with a habit of three hours of ‘active’ study daily. You’d be surprised just how exhaustive it first is when you begin to do this daily. Once you’ve achieved this for a week you can consider doing more than three hours, but before that limit yourself to this amount of time.

Some parameters of studying that you need to consider when reading this article;

-        Study does not refer to completion of assignments

-        Study may include homework

-        Study should not be passive

-        You know your body and mind best and this article is to be taken as a guide not a rule book

My full study day routine

I begin the night before by;

Ø  Preparing a list of the subjects I need to study

Ø  Marking the textbook chapters involved

I also pack my bag the night before so that I can grab it and go.

Backpack Checklist

1.      Stationary

·        Highlighters

·        Pens

·        Pencil

·        Ruler

·        Eraser

2.      Sticky notes

3.      Water bottle

4.      Laptop and phone charger

5.      Planner

6.      Notebooks

7.      Study guides

8.      Printables

I also like to prep a little lunch box for me to take. This is because going out to buy lunch can get expensive and if you have food allergies like me it can be very time consuming. Additionally, if you’re a bit of a grouchy riser it might be an idea to prep some tea or coffee on your bench. Just put out the coffee jar or tea bags next to your mug so that you can sleepily pull yourself together.

I like to pin up my list on my door or pinboard so that I see it first thing in the morning. This helps me to remember why I have to get up and get dressed. It is also a visual reminder of how busy you are – and stops you wasting time in the morning!

Now set your alarm for six o’clock and let’s go!

When I wake up in the morning I make sure to treat myself well. I’m not a very happy morning person, so it’s important that I get my coffee first thing! However, to make sure we have a healthy start I like to mix some apple cider vinegar in some water and have a few gulps before I start on my coffee.

.

I get really dry skin during the day, especially when I’m working in the library and the air conditioner dries out your skin. While keeping hydrated is a good way to prevent any discomfort that may come from this issue, it is also a good idea to use a facial cream.

At the moment, my favorite at the moment is ottergenics daydream facial cream, it’s very easy to get on Amazon. I don’t usually stick to one brand, but I’ve really fallen in love with this cream, especially because I suffer from bad dry skin. It’s a little different to normal face creams because you get to control just how watery it is. This is because it comes in a concentrated form with 0% water which you then can mix with water to make it spreadable.  I like to mix it with lotion or foundation instead of water because I prefer that texture better.

It makes a beautiful smelling cream that helps me not to feel dried out and I get to spend the rest of the day with beautifully soft skin that doesn’t leave me feeling tired and drained. And after eight hours with my face in a law textbook – that’s pretty impressive! Better yet the product is entirely natural and isn't filled with chemicals. It's a cream that's highly versatile that I'd recommend anyone incorporates into their daily routine.

Then I try and pull my hair out of my face because no one likes to deal with hair in your eyes when you’re struggling through a textbook or a theory.

I’d recommend going on pintrest to find some sweet library outfits you can wear to go studying. I find that the usual sweatpants and shirt can get pretty monotonous. It’s always a good plan to have a few different comfortable outfits that you can wear which you really feel comfortable and pretty in.

Hitting the library

Once you’re dressed and feeling suitably luxurious you’ll be in the right mood to study. I made sure to highlight to you that you need to make sure you’re in the right headspace because if you try to study when you’re not feeling good your productivity will drop. I can guarantee then any study you do will go in one ear – out the other-  and you’ll give up on maintaining this habit.

If you’re not sure what to actually /do/ while you’re studying look at these top five study activities to get an idea for how to structure your day.

However, the real challenge will be keeping yourself motivated and productive. It’s not a simple matter of sticking your head in a book and keep going until your brain shuts down. You need to make sure that every second is used wisely. There are several ways that you can do this but I think that the best method is using a visual tracker.

To create one of these, use the articles above to plan out the tasks that need to be done. Then list them along a piece of gridded paper. It doesn’t matter what order they are in you can jump around as you need. Using the boxes that you’ve drawn as a guide write in a step by step guide for what you need to do to finish that task;

Now throughout your day, every 25 minutes you need to stop and color in just how far along you are in completing that task.

You can use a pencil to show yourself just how much you need to get done to be at an appropriate stage by the end of the day.

This is best coupled with a time indicator scale which gives you a brief overview of how you plan to spend your time. Although it should be left a little flexible – and don’t forget to schedule yourself in some 5 minute breaks every 25 minutes.

Once you’re done – STOP!

Once you start to get into the habit of studying you can struggle to stop. It’s very important that you exercise self-discipline both ways. You need to firm with yourself when you need to begin studying, and when you’re ready to stop studying, put your books away and allow your brain to rest. A well-rested brain absorbs far more than a strung out one! And don’t forget the recommended amount of sleep a night is 8 hours and 8 and a half for teenagers. 

Note Ottergenics; I received this product in exchange for review from Giveaway Service website. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Lulu Hensman

Australian Court Series ; R V Adams

R v Adams (No 7) [2017] NSWSC 179

This case is interesting as it is a case taking place in 2017 for a murder in 1983. Unlike some criminal acts murder has no statute of limitation – or expiry date, after which the prosecution can no longer prosecute. The maximum penalty for murder, all around Australia, is Life imprisonment, so that is the penalty that many heinous crimes are given. However, as this is a murder from 1983, the court had to apply the law from the time. This was that the imprisonment for life was a mandatory sentence. At [4] Justice Button acknowledge that ‘the maximum penalty as it existed in 1983…speaks for itself with regard to the gravity with which the unlawful taking of the life of a fellow human being…was and is assessed by parliament and the community that it represents.’

The case facts, as recounted, are that in 1983 the offender offered the deceased a lift home. The deceased was drunk and had believed the false representations of the man that he was a police officer. He then drove her a short distance away, and possibly during intercourse – the facts are not agreed upon – he crushed her windpipe, killing the deceased. Her body was then stored in the boot and the offender took steps to clean the evidence. There was evidence adduced at trial that the offender had a history of strangling sexual partners who refused his advances.

This case is interesting as the judge was not required to determine guilt but relative seriousness of the offence. There were two opposing facts of the case that made this determination difficult the first was that the case was more serious because the offender had invaded the woman’s sexual autonomy and the murder took place during an act that was obviously dangerous to human life given her own level of intoxication.

The second fact that goes in favor of the offender is that the murder was unintended. There is a general acceptance that premeditated, assessed and planned murder is of greater seriousness than a murder occurring in the spur of the moment.

That being said at [16] the judge determined that while I appreciate the force of what defence counsel has said about the breadth of the concept of felony murder, this offence against a young woman in the prime of her life, simply for the sexual gratification of the offender, cannot be assessed as anything other than extremely grave.’

When sentencing the judge took into account the following;

-        Plead not guilty, resulting in no utilitarian discount

-        No mitigating factors

-        Has not shown remorse

-        Has not accepted responsibility

-        Previous rapes of similar description

-        His age is now 64

-        He has not been convicted of anything since 1974

Around the world legal courts have also become live to the issue that the considerable delays between getting arraigned, trial and sentence amount to some degree in delay of justice. In Canada it was determined that that a four year delay would be sufficient to constitute a delay of justice. However, this has not yet been determined in Australia.; R v Jordan.  

In this case it was discussed from [29-31] how the delay of justice proposition may apply to the offender. While he acknowledged that there was a strong between the murder and the charges, it was not by process of the law or deliberate delay of the authorities rather, and to use his honors own words, the matter is not to be equated with a case in which the charging of a person is delayed [or] he or she exercises his or her right to silence. Instead the delay in the resolution of the matter is to a large degree, attributable to the offender. [31]. It was determined that the delay should reflect to a limited degree the sentence.

Further to the determination of sentencing, it became at issue how the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment was to be treated. While it is no longer mandatory, it has come to be accepted in the court that the law does not operate retrospectively and the law that is in place at the time of the offence is that law that must apply to the offence; R v  Magnuson. However, it was hardly a year later that the law was changed. Meaning that the mood of the times when the crime was committed was not significantly different. Moreover, his honor acknowledged that it was general practice for crimes of a similar nature to serve 11 to 10 years before being released on parole. This inferenced a standard of treatment that the offender may have appealed to.

Then a similar case, not committed by the offender, R v Fleming was raised by defence as a potential sentencing guide. It accounted for an imprisonment of 21 years with a non-parole period of 16 years.

It was also accepted that the sentence must reflect the time in custody spent prior to sentencing.

Final determination factors

There was a lack of

-        Intention to kill

-        Multiple murders

-        Prior murders

-        Not a contract killing

-        Act of heinous cruelty, indignity, torture or mutilation

This are important to note that they are not present because they are standard elements in todays courts, where the ultimate sentence is imposed. It was for that reason that his honor was not satisfied that a determinate sentence would fail to reflect the gravity of what the offender has done; s61 of the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act. [54].

In Australia, because it is the adversarial system victims aren’t often invited to the stand to explain how things have impacted them personally. That being said the courts invite victim impact statements to be submitted to the judge. This is something that the court may consider when determining the sentence that is given to an offender. They are not compulsory and only discuss how the crime has impacted the

 individual;

-        Physically

-        Emotionally

-        Financially

-        Socially

You can read more about them here.

His honor acknowledged that the two sisters who submitted impact statements spoke movingly of the pain that has been endured for decades as a result of the disappearance of the deceased...that pain had been made worse by not knowing precisely how she died. Many years ago, their parents went to their graves without any resolution of the mystery loss of their daughter.’

It was not made clear how exactly this added to the sentence, but it is inferenced that due to the serious impact the offender’s actions had upon the family of the deceased, his actions were deemed to be more serious than an act that had a lesser impact on the family.

Final Sentence

The offender was convicted of murder with a non-parole period of fifteen years and a parole period of 5 years, following the fifteen. This means that for fifteen years following this sentence the offender is ineligible to apply for parole. After that he is eligible to be released.

You can see that he has followed the guidance of R v Fleming and the general structure of sentences in which the non-parole period must be three quarters of the head sentence. 

Lulu Hensman